One of the exhilarating parts of quail hunting is hearing a covey of birds take flight when flushed by a favorite hunting dog. The rushing, whooshing sound is at once startling and exciting, representing the thrill of the hunt desired to be experienced by all hunters. The sound of a covey "getting up" also alerts the hunter, oftentimes before he catches sight of the covey, and helps to improve a hunter's likelihood of bagging a bird. It is believed that the flapping, whooshing noise helps orient the hunter and focus his attention to a specific portion of his field of view much quicker than with sight alone. Thus, it is important for a hunter to be able to hear as he hunts so that he may fully experience the thrill and excitement of flushing his quarry and also enhance his likelihood of climaxing his efforts with a kill.
Unfortunately, the hunter with impaired hearing cannot fully experience the joy of flushing a covey of quail and is further handicapped in locating and shooting his quarry, for the reasons mentioned above. While most hearing problems can be at least partially corrected through the use of hearing aids, the hunter must guard against amplifying the sound of his own weapon as it would very likely further damage his hearing capacity. In this regard, it is widely recommended that all hunters including those having normal hearing use ear plugs to muffle the severe and extreme noises generated by a firing shotgun to prevent damage to the hearing. Therefore, a hunter with impaired hearing must make the unhappy choice of stopping before shooting to turn off his hearing aid or not wearing one and missing what some consider to be the most exhilarating part of the hunt. If a hunter chooses to wear his aid, he must be very careful to remember and turn it off before firing as he can inadvertently cause himself serious pain and further hearing loss. For this reason, it is considered dangerous for a hunter to wear an aid while hunting.
To solve these problems and enable a hearing impaired hunter to fully experience the thrill of the hunt and also prevent the unintended amplification of his own shotgun fire, applicant has succeeded in developing a remote, momentary shut off switch for automatically and reliably disabling a hearing aid as the shotgun or rifle is raised into the firing position and pressed against the shoulder. The remote shut off switch may be mounted to a hunting vest, jacket or the like in the crook of the shoulder where the hunter customarily rests his gun before firing. Thus, a hearing impaired hunter may confidently wear a hearing aid to fully experience the sounds around him and use them in locating his quarry and aiming his gun. However, just before firing his gun, every hunter habitually exerts a rearward pressure with the gun butt against his shoulder, automatically operating the remote switch to shut off the hearing aid and prevent it from amplifying the firing noise. Firmly seating the gun butt into the crook of the shoulder is a habit well learned early on in shooting and is virtually a reflex action. This is because a failure to properly seat a shotgun or rifle results in a badly bruised or even broken shoulder when the gun recoils into it. The automatic and reliable operation of the switch is thus assured.
Applicant's remote, momentary shut off switch is of further benefit as it requires virtually no adjustment in a hunter's normal shooting motion. As can be appreciated, any system which interferes with the natural shooting routine of a hunter would not only detract from the very thing sought to be enhanced, but could also preserve some element of danger from the simple manual system of the prior art. With applicant's device, it is expected that a hunter might delay his firing until he had heard the aid go silent while first using it. However, further use would bring confidence in its reliability such that a hunter would soon return to his natural firing routine. Thus, use of applicant's device offers the many advantages of improved hearing with only a small intrusion into the shooting routine, and then only if such instrusion is desired. Otherwise, a hunter would soon return to his normal routine.
Applicant's remote, momentary contact shut off switch generally includes two leaf plates fastened together in a spaced apart relationship with silver tipped contacts extending inwardly from each plate and interlocked so that pressure against the plates separates the contacts and breaks the circuit between the battery and the hearing aid. The leaf plates may be as small or as large as desired and one or more sticky fabric patches, such as VELCRO.TM., may be attached to the switch and a matching sticky fabric patch secured to the inside of the hunting vest for securing the switch. With this mounting arrangement, the switch may be easily removed for washing of the vest or for using the switch with other vests. Of course, the switch may be secured to a hunting vest or jacket in a myriad of ways, some of which would provide more flexibility in adjusting the positioning of the switch to accommodate different wearers of the jacket. With the VELCRO.TM. patches, a wide range of adjustability of placement is provided and might be more desirable for the mass production of applicant's device. Once a desirable position has been found, then it may be marked by the hunter so that its position may be easily duplicated after the switch is removed for washing of the jacket or the like.
Applicant's remote, momentary shut off switch may be used with any of the wide variety of hearing aids presently available; from the totally in the ear devices to those having a separate receiver and pocket carried amplifier. Applicant discloses one embodiment of his invention with a pocket carried amplifier but it is to be understood that applicant's switch may be used with a wide variety of hearing aids.